Archive for March, 2011

We are currently trying to eat a bunch of candy that we got from Purim so we dont have too much left when Passover comes. One candy that I had no idea what it was was a box of “Crows.” It is from the makers of Tootsie rolls that are now kosher too. They are black licorice gum drops. I’m not a big fan of black licorice and neither is anyone in my house. Just the smell made my kids run away. But I was interested to see that something new hit the market and it had a big fat OU kosher symbol right on the front.

I was looking through my Pesach cookbook for some homemade dessert ideas so I dont have to spend a ton of money on something that tastes like dirt. I came across a truffles recipe that seems to be delicious and non passover tasting too! I came across Chocolate Truffles…yum right! Heres the recipe (you can make it Dairy or Pareve):

Line baking sheet with parchment or waxed paper. with melon baller or spoon, make small balls- dont need to be perfectly round yet, you will reroll them when you coat them in coating of you choice. Put in freezer for 20 mins.

set up 3 bowls each with some confectioners sugar, cocoa and nuts. roll balls in coating of your choice and reshape them into perfect balls. Store in air tight container in fridge. Can be make 10 days ahead!!!! makes about 30-36 truffles.

You can play around with the coatings, like using coconut or Kosher LPesach sprinkles.

This is super easy and my mouth is already water. I know Im going to make at least (if not more) 2 batches of them!

Passover is coming up in a few weeks and almost all the stores are stocked with their passover foods. I feel most store raise their prices on nearly everything especially their chocolates. Bartons candies are a fortune! So Im trying to think of ways that I can make my own.

Some of my ideas are as follows. Melt chocolate in a bowl. Any kind of chocolate (kosher for passover), the cheaper (real) chocolate the better, either choc. chips or a baking bar, milk choc, whatever. throw in a ton of raisins, almonds, nuts of any kind. If the choco. is too thick, add a drop of marg. Mix melted choc. fruit/nuts and then scoop them out to drip off access chocolate. lay them flat on parchment paper to dry. Now youve got yourself some chocolaty snacks much cheaper then the stores sell. You could also do this with broken pieces of matza instead of fruit or nuts.

Another idea is making homemade chocolate lolipops. They sell like 5 choc. pops for like $5 which is CRAZY. This project could even be done by the kids with adult help Buy any shape candy mold, which you can buy at craft stores for very inexpensive (especially if you use an in store coupon from places like Michaels). Dont forget to buy the lolipop sticks too. Melt any kind of chocolate- dark/milk, whatever you prefer. Add a drop of marg. if you think its too thick. Pour into candy/pop molds (greasing the molds with Kosher for Passover oil spray before may be necessary) and let harden for about 30 minutes or put in the fridge for about 15 minutes. You can make many many more pops for much cheaper than they cost. And as we all know, kids could eat a whole box very easily so this is a great and inexpensive.

Marshmellows are another great treat on Passover. Eat them plain or roast them over a fire. YUM!

Im still looking into other ideas for making homemade treats KLP. Will keep you posted!

Exciting news is happening in the kosher candy market. The OU (Orthodox Union) is putting their hechser on –JUNIOR MINTS, BLOW POPS, TOOTSIE ROLL POPS, CARAMEL APPLE POPS, CHARMS, SUGAR DADDY AND SUGAR BABIES GO KOSHER! This is huge. Its about time!! I cant wait to try some of these goodies, but it may take a few months for the kosher labels to appear on the packages. I know there are already jewish/kosher brands that make similar candies like Paskez’s gum lolipops, but there is just something about being able to go into any store in any city or state an be able to get a varitey of candy.

I think Tootsie Rolls were the first to become kosher as they already have the OU-D hechsher on their labels in the stores. When I had my first kosher toostie roll, boy was it good! It was so sweet and chocolaty and sooo goooey. I think it gave me an instant cavity. Im wondering how many licks will it take me to get to the center of the tootsie roll pop (get it? from the old tootsie roll pop commercials). Im excited to try the sugar daddies and sugar babies! I’m not really sure what the caramel apple pops are, but you can be sure, as soon as I find them with an OU on them, Ill be trying them and reporting back to you.

Now that Purim is over, we are finally accessing our candy situation. Most of the stuff was the typical chocolate wafers, botttles of wine and anything gooey and chewy.

A few baskets were definitely unusal and are worth mentioning. First was my daughters school Shaloch Manos basket. It was a cute metal shopping cart filled with completely random stuff. Only after I read the letter attached did it make sense. Here is a list of the stuff inside, see if you can put the “theme” together.

1.Black and White cookie

2 Water

3. Cotton Candy

4. Chocolate Leaves

5. Star shaped pasta

6. Candy Fish

7. Animal candies

8. People pops

9. Challah

10. Grape Juice

Did you guess it? Its the theme of “Creation”…day/night, water/sky…..Cute no?

Other baskets that we received that were interesting were, Turkey sausages with rye bread and mustard and a pickle! We got a western themed mishloach manot that had a can of heinz beans!

Overall most of the baskets were just filled with the typical candies and chocolates and juice boxes. We did not receive any fruit! The most popular candy this year were little straws filled with large non parel candies (almost like the round sprinkles) in multi colors. We got about 8-10 of those candy straws. Our #2 candy which we received in three different baskets were the kids candy bracelet/watches. The kids loved them!

Living in a very heavily Jewish area, Purim preps around here started several weeks ago. The grocery stores rearranged all their candy aisles and tons of other stores are selling their beautiful pre made purim baskets, some of which look like little mini wedding presents and cost just about the same. Dont even get me started on the candy stores! Since when did “themed” mishloach manot become part of the mitzvah. It has gotten out of control! I dont need an apple clock to match with the “apple” themed basket. What does a non food item have to with giving on Purim. Nothing- its just a way for people to try and out-do and impress their friends.

Whatever happened to the good old fashioned shaloch manos that we used to give to everyone that consisted of a hamentashen, maybe a piece of fruit and nuts on a paper plate. Now, everyone makes hundreds of bag/baskets for their kids to hand out to all their friends, teachers… Which would be semi ok, if we didnt already dish out a ton of money to be a part of our School or Shuls lists. So not only do we pay for our school/shul we then give to the same people again with more homemade baskets! this is insane!

With all that being said, I am looking forward to seeing what new candy items will be hitting the bags this year. We always end up with piles and piles of candy. Most of which eventually ends up in my husbands office.